This is way cool, but from the video and from the descriptions I don't see how it is any different from the Starry Nights software, which in itself is absolutely amazing. Starry Nights in its "Pro" version comes with 16 million stars built in, 500 million more when connected online, 980000 galaxies, shitloads of satellites, all the planets, moons, comets and asteroids in the solar system, and tons more - all in their proper positions and orbits, sizes and with accurate (photo based) textures or images depicting them whenever one exists. And that's all in 3D, allowing you to move around freely e.g. to Mars and look back at earth, or even fly to a distant galaxy. And all that also works in time so that you can, for example, fast forward 1000 years or go back 25000 years - whatever you want. The graphics are nothing short of amazing in Starry Nights and the depth of the content in its databases is about as close to "complete" as it can be with the current knowledge..

So I ask again - how is the WWT different? I'm not saying it's crap or that it's a rip off or anything like that. I just can't see the difference from the description or video. Help me out please!

Kim98

@Biggy: I think the fundamental difference we are seeing here is the "enmeshing" of the various telescope feeds. Making that seamless is challenging even if you have only a very limited set of feeds - witness the satellite views in Google Earth - you can see the mosaic patterns that arise from the true nature of what you are seeing - several satellites taking pictures at various times, under various lighting and weather conditions. Goodgle doesn't even try to rationalize the data.

Now we all know about demoware, but if Microsoft can do that, it's (ahem) light years ahead of the competition, and the back-end processing will indeed need to be prodigious.

Very cool - and just for the record, there are those of us who have redundent gadgetry like this, Stellarium, Google Earth, etc.

ps61318

@Jesus Diaz: Your 100% right on this.

@Biggy: Are you saying its easy to develop this app? No one needs to "say" how complex this is to know that its back-end is.

imTheKing

Guys guys it's just all based on opinions from first impression.

I thought it was nice and smooth. But I'm wondering what the minimum requirements are.

ten10

@Jesus Diaz: Wow, wow, hold it there Jesus! What do you mean by "can't even approach the complexity of the backend work behind a project like this"??

We haven't seen the software neither the guys in the video said anything about the "complexity" of the making of this software. All what they said is about futuristic vision and development, but their level of complexity could possibly match Google Earth's Sky.

Microsoft is doing some great work, but until the product is out no one could possibly judge how complex is this thing. How are you judging this? (Just simple argumentative questioning)

Biggy

@Shoghon: I think you don't really appreciate the scope of putting all these images together. That program you mention can't even approach the complexity of the backend work behind a project like this (or Google's sky).

Jesus Diaz

Google Sky and NASA's World Wind do the same thing and have for a while, but Microsoft's is smooth and slick! I want!

aussie

@Shoghon: I hate to disagree with you on that, but in todays world, its not exactly easy to innovate. Almost everything is an improved version of another version. Apple for example claims to innovate, but what they really do is take existing technology and improve it or modify it to match their product. Its not a bad thing though, its technically the smarter way to go about it in business.

An example that comes to mind is the operating system builds. What Microsoft is trying to do with their OS is build up with something that turns out to be very buggy. Apple however, takes an existing OS that is not only the most secure, but the most stable and they implement their own GUI and their own proprietary software/hardware over top of it.

In my eyes, if you can take an existing object thats already a good object (in this case, google earth), and make your own version that is even better but technically the same, thats a great success.

imTheKing

@frigg: This was what I wanted to say by the first comment; it looks great and "cinematic", but it is not humanity shaking project!

Biggy

@Shoghon: Give me the name of one company who innovates and I will give you a good reason why I think that they emulate. Chances are none innovates; all are just emulating.

Biggy

@Jesus Diaz: You know what, watching that again, I kind of feel what you mean by "smoother and more attractive", Jesus. It seems like if the sky here is made up of 3D layers, not a 2D image that renders with each zoom like in Google Earth's Sky. Also camera shifting gives a cinematic feel, with motion blur and all.

I'll definitely be waiting for this.

Biggy

I appreciate big ideas, but yet again Microsoft doesn't innovate but emulates. Check out the already available and free Stellarium. Overlay 'connect the dots' for not only the western world's constellations, but everyone else's as well. Even overlay excellent illustrations of those constellations. Zoom in on galaxies and planets, moons and asteroids. Locate your exact spot on the planet and see what the stars look like -right now- or play time backwards, forwards...whatever.
Did I mention it is for Mac, PC and Linux?
[www.stellarium.org]

Shoghon

Being one of the biggest Apple fanboys on this forum, I have to say, this looks really really really good. This dominates Google Earth. I have to agree with yoshi: on this one.

imTheKing

@HJTravels: Exaggerations in the presentation aside, I agree. Bravo to Microsoft. This does sound really cool and can only get better as new images feed into it.

frigg

Pretty.... A lovely substitute for those of us in large cities.

Reilaos, Man of Destiny

Saying this is as significant an advance as Galileo's telescope four hundred years ago sounds kiss-assingly exaggerated. All the images look like pictures from Hubble (which are already on the internet), stitched together with popup boxes (which is already in Google sky). That all sounds great, but I don't think it will shake humanity's view of itself at its core and forever change its perception of its place in the universe quite the way Galileo did.

frigg

Wow, this really looks like its going to be something. Bravo to Microsoft (for a change)

HJTravels

@saeder: 2010 was directed by Peter Hyams, who also brought us Wargames. (<-- SchruteBuck is a nerd)

SchruteBuck

@peterfnet: Awesome, shame some people are too young or uncultured to get that reference.

@yogibimbi: "I'm sorry Dave...", is your name Dave? I hope so... the Europa comment is a reference to a movie 2010 it was written in part by Aruthur C. Clarke but I don't think it was directed by Stanley Kubrick which 2001 was, interesting films and books.

saeder

@Biggy: I have Google Earth and I play with Sky. The MS WWT looks a lot better. The quality of the images and the way you travel seems definitely better, and the whole experience seems smoother and more attractive than Google's Sky. I definitely want it.

Jesus Diaz

Giz we need a side by side feature comparison of Google Sky View and Microsoft WWT to understand which is better.

kibets

That's awesome, can't wait for it.

SchruteBuck

This is cool.
I wonder how long it will be before the Aliens show up and sue Microsoft for invasion of privacy.

nospamsam

@yoshi: Come on yoshi! I mean I really love Microsoft and all, and I use all their services from A to Z but, to be honest, this video shows nothing new if compared to Google Earth's Sky view! I mean we are talking about a product that has been out for about 6 months now (Sky).

I'm not trying to disagree with you that Microsoft is doing a great job, but other than the nice music in the background of this video nothing was magical or new.

Update you Google Earth and check it out! Sometimes I set by the hours gazing the stars and galaxies in Google Earth's Sky view!

Biggy

proving that while google may control the earth, microsoft will always be the Masters of the Universe

mwalker05

Microsoft: We copy for less, and it shows!

SigmundTheSeaMonster

This is incredible. Much better than Google Earth.

Kudos Microsoft!

yoshi

Man, i thought this was the Universe demonstration for Spore :/

P3nnst8r

As Biggy pointed out, Google Earth has had this for a long time... MS should just give up.

lafond66

I really thank Microsoft for this hard job, but I've seen better in Google Earth! If you have Google Earth, switch to Sky view, and, TaDa, You have a magical "Worldwide" Telescope even better than the footage I just saw.

Is Google way ahead or am I missing something here?

Biggy

@peterfnet: Is this Europa - London, Paris, Rome, Moscow - or is that Europa, moon of Jupiter?

yogibimbi

Thanks Ted, where can I get my very own WorldWide Telescope?

/cheesy infomercial voice

Geisrud

Rizzla can expect increased sales the weekend of this release.

timtempest

ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA. ATTEMPT NO LANDINGS THERE

peterfnet

Still unimpressive, same as the demo from Techfest '07 but with a smooth animation(and probably much more Hubble data has been added, UI).

[www.microsoft.com]

lmjabreu

"communities of storytellers will emerge...."......WHAT ?

guesserit

@banmojo:
That sounds like something that retard Mechio Kaku would say...

nutbastard

I found where itwas to be released yesterday, but I can't locate it on Microsofts site.

dirk1965

I really love it when he says (not a verbatim quote here): "nature produces just the right number of stars and planets to produce life...."

Yeah. Umm, nature, as understood by evolutionists, does not have a thoughtful mind, a creative bent, a Black and Decker Skilsaw. So why do they always refer to it in terms that make it sound like a creator? Hmmm, I wonder why? Perhaps because we all know that structure, especially amazing complex dynamic structure, requires thoughtful design, thoughtful manipulation of material and energy, rather than random interaction of raw matter/energy within finite time. We DO all know this, even if many of us won't admit it. ("Afraid of what that might mean, you are.")

banmojo

@ps61318: We don't know if it is free or not, and we absolutely would love to have many choices. :)

Biggy

@saeder:
Thanks Saeder :-) Glad to see it was appreciated by some

peterfnet

Kim98 at 10:42 AM:

I too own Starry Night (as well as The Sky 6), and like you, don't really see a huge difference here.  However, it's possible that Microsoft may be releasing this for free or for a really nominal cost — if so, it's gonna eat into the revenues of most major astronomy software makers big-time.

GarthWood

@Kim98: Um, it's free?

@Biggy: Yes, as I said, demoware; we'll see what the finished product is like. Nice to have choices for the fun stuff, isn't it?

ps61318

@imTheKing: Read agina what I wrote. :)

@ps61318: I have to point out that Google Earth Sky is not as mosaic as the Sky view in it, meaning that Sky view is much more blended and tighten up than the Google Earth normal view. Also in another note, The video does indeed show a mosaic implementation of large universe clouds, check out the zoom he did on the red cloud, you can definitely see the part where you said about rationalizing the data. After all, this is not a full project and my only take on this subject is that until this point right now, nothing looks different than the Google Sky or Starry Night softwares except for the fact where the guy said "recording video imagery".

@Kim98: Can't agree more! and I would love to ask the same question but with a slight change: how "do you guys know" the WWT is in fact different from that 300 by 200 pixel video?

Biggy

I wonder if this is using Seadragon? It's the same graphic engine behind Microsoft's Photosynth. It seems to act in the same way with the ablity to pan and zoom without having lags for re-rendering.

baltwade

I wonder how much this thing would be questioned if it didn't have Microsoft as part of its brand name. Even when they do something cool and exciting like this.

Its quite a sad state of affairs with some of you.

alukard

WOW this is crazy...I never knew there was such a project like this...maybe like galaxy-by-galaxy mapping or something like that. Can't wait till it's ready!

@banmojo: Werd...

ry_ry

Countdown until somebody grafts a game on top of this in 5... 4... 3...

Mmmm, Universe of Warcraft.

SinistarX

I gotta give a big thumbs up to Microsoft for this one. Google Sky, Stellarium, whatever. I just want really good star-gazing apps, and if Microsoft makes the best one, I'll get it the moment it comes out. Now please MS, do not make this Windows only.

Kaiser-Machead

@Jesus Diaz: Hello Sexy!

NaleAne

@iomatic: Ummmmm OK...

Xenocide

It only rocks if it runs in OS X and you can use standard Unix terminal command to control and interface it to other services. :D

iomatic

Uuu pretty!

DJTripleRRR

@Biggy: Pretty sure I heard that... will have to find six more minutes to waste to listen again. Web site says that it will be free for education and astronomy communities. notice I write w/o articles when in a hurry.

[www.worldwidetelescope.org]

ps61318

@brian1cj: Yes, I know, but where would you find a blender big enough?

Oh, stupid me, alternate universe, of course. never mind.

ps61318

The Universe is cool and all... but will it blend?

brian1cj

I just couldn't help but laugh when I heard the guy say "Microsoft Research", too funny. These guys don't research anything other than how to clone someone else's innovation.

JordyT

@yogibimbi: you're thinking about eurasia...
so they did all this research and still can't see any random death stars or humanoid aliens with super powers and gold hair fighting on random planets?

akira_santiago

I think Celestia is far more interesting than this, since it allows you to freely explore the universe in true 3D, watch planets move along their orbits in realtime or any time multiplier you wish, create tours (like WWT), and so much more

R2B2

"My god, its full of stars."

Sub-Sub!

Des

Space - it seems to go on and on forever.

...but then you get to the end and the monkey throws barrels at you.

Ben

Sure it's smooth, but what were they running it on?
Remember, VISTA seemed smooth when it was presented.

Craysh

Wow, pick your debate, anti microsoft, pro-google, mac fan-boys, evolution... this story seems to have drawn up some serious lines in the sand. Personally? I look at it and think SWEET, Microsoft may just have something here if they can do it better than the other guys. I love it as a software/space junky politics aside.

On a side note... Micrsoft r teh masterer, google r teh suck, Mac fan-boyz r teh lam0rz. And God pwns.

mikeness

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the exact same thing as that software Microsoft already shown... in another TED video btw... which uses tons of photos from different sources to give a detailed view of stuff here on Earth... only this uses photos from telescopes pointed to the sky?

Isn't it? I mean, you just have to use that, and feed the whole thing with only pics from Telescopes.

It's awesome and all... I am really looking forward to the other soft I mentioned... but kinda makes this non-news.

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

One of the funniest headlines. Kudos to the tikibartv.com reference!

bryankd

did you notice how there was a LOT of empty space? Nothing, then all of a sudden a big photo of a nebula. The only thing i see here is a lame wow-factor of flying to the photo -yawn-. It's like essentially they toom a bunch of space photos and sprawled them out in a big virtual space leaving out most of the stuff inbetween. Would it not be easier to have a gallery system with thumbnails and proximity markers etc? Oh no.. it just would be as cool as flying around in a void looking for thumbnails of images to zoom into..

JordyT

@JordyT: Uh...

Space is vast. The idea behind this project wasn't to create a fucking thumbnail gallery for lazy assholes to click through, the idea is to create an interactive field for explore and discover things. I'm sure the options exist to look at stellar phenomena ONLY, but I guess they don't have to worry about getting you to use the program.

Atheist Jew

@Biggy: I agree. The first thing I thought when I saw the view of the stars was "Oh they're using Google Earth. Cool!" I really hope there's more to this then what I just saw because lots of money and manpower may have been wasted on developing a program that already exists.

Blaze6181

Still waiting for SPORE

andrei-

Once again, Microsoft has the delusion of creating "revolutionary" projects. This Microsoft "revolutionary" project is a rip off from Google Earth sky view, that's around since 2006...

octopussy

@banmojo: ...oh brother. here we go

gibsonav

Anyone ever hear of Celestia? It's free and works on the exact same principles (and some more I don't see in the MS version).
I'll stick with it over THIS any day. I've been using it to teach my kids astronomy for years.
Oh, and by the way "ted", pitch the hell out of your product...but next time, try not to be so buzzword happy. "Holistic approach"??? Even he had to laugh at that one.
And let's leave the intelligent design thing out please? it's MATHIMATICALLY IMPOSSIBLE for us to be the only form of life out there. Period. No great creator has anything to do with the fact that with so much space and so many variables, things just HAPPEN!

gibsonav

Google Map, Google Earth. Now we have Microsoft Universe.

catxxxfish